Amanita aprica

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by Michael Kuo

This stocky but beautiful species of Amanita is one of the few amanitas I have seen that might easily be mistaken for a member of some other genus; its proportions and oddly disposed veil remnants are not "typical" of amanitas. Amanita aprica is found in the Pacific Northwest, under Douglas-fir and pines.

The orange-yellow cap, when young, features a frosty coating of whitish universal veil material that is tightly adherent, and doesn't quite qualify as warts or patches. Only a few tiny remnants of the frosty coating are visible on the older specimens illustrated to the right, but click the link below to Rodham Tulloss's page to see young specimens displaying the feature prominently.

The stem base of Amanita aprica displays a volva that typically has a small, freely extending portion (a "limb," in Mycologese) but can become stretched out and poorly defined, or even appear like basal "rings" of tissue. The true ring of Amanita aprica sits higher on the stem, but can collapse against the stem surface or disappear altogether.

No species of Amanita should be considered for the table, and documented poisonings exist for this species; it causes "nausea, vomiting, intestinal cramps, muscle spasms, and diarrhea" (Tulloss, 2005).

Description:

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with Douglas-fir and pines (species of Pinus); growing alone or gregariously; often appearing in sun-lit patches (windfall breaks in the canopy, paths, and so on); winter and spring; distribution limited to the Pacific Northwest.

Cap: 5-15 cm; convex, expanding to planoconvex or flat; bright orange-yellow but often fading with age; when young usually covered with tightly adherent, white universal veil material; the margin faintly lined or not.

Gills: Free from the stem; close or nearly distant; creamy; with frequent short-gills.

Stem: 3.5-9 cm long; up to 3.5 cm thick; equal; whitish; sometimes bruising and discoloring brownish; smooth or finely hairy; with a fragile whitish ring that often collapses or may disappear; without a prominently swollen base; with a whitish volva that usually has a free upper edge but may appear as "rings" near the base of the stem or as indistinct, appressed material.

Flesh: White; unchanging when sliced.

Odor: Not distinctive.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 9.5-13 x 6.5-8.5 µ; elliptical; smooth; inamyloid.

REFERENCES: Tulloss & Lindgren, 2005. (Lindgren, 1998; Tulloss & Lindgren, 2005; Tulloss, 2005.)

Further Online Information:

Amanita aprica at Tulloss's Studies in Amanita

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2006, March). Amanita aprica. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/amanita_aprica.html